E Darts - ch 2

Chapter 2

One day me, The Poet, 16, Captain Vegas were hanging around The Castro
with nothing to do when The Poet had an idea.
"We should form a darts team," he said.

"What?" I said. "Where did that come from?"

"Look," said The Poet, standing up and talking as if he were
addressing an audience of thousands when in fact he wasn't. It was just
us. "You were just saying how you were fed up with being an outsider,
of always having to justify yourself. What better way of taking on the
bastions of straight culture than forming a darts team?"

"I don't know," I said. "Bastions?" I said.

"I prefer snooker," said 16. "I'm good at snooker."

"Me too," said Captain Vegas. "And you Loop Garoo. You're good with a
cue. I've seen you. Remember last Thursday?"

"I remember," I said.

"We should form a snooker team," said 16. "A team of snooker
players."

"No," said The Poet. He was still standing. He still had his hands out
in front of him. "You're all missing the point. Snooker is a game of
gentlemen. It's non-vocal, shy. Who would know if you were a gay
snooker player? And more importantly, who would care? But darts, what
could be more straight than darts?"

I scratched my chin and then I turned to 16. "He's right you know. In
my dad's pub we used to have a darts team."

"Really?" said 16. "I never knew that."

I nodded my head and I told them what I remembered of the team. I
listed the points one by one, bending a finger as I spoke.
They were all regular guys.
They wore jeans and had beer bellies.
Often they would play with fags hanging out of their mouths.
They would talk about women and fuck them when they could. Which
wasn't very often.
They would stand in groups and drink pints of lager tops.
On a Wednesday night they would take it in turns to throw darts at a
board.
They would be happy if they won.
They would be sad if they lost.
They were the darts team.

"But," said 16, "I've never seen a darts-board in a gay bar."

The Poet clapped his hands. "Exactly," he said. "That's the beauty of
it. One week we'll go to a straight bar and play and the next week a
straight team will come to our bar and play. It will be a new era of
cooperation and understanding between our two cultures. What do you
think?"

I looked at 16 and 16 looked at The Poet and The Poet looked at
Captain Vegas.

"I've never been in a team before," said Captain Vegas.

"I wouldn't mind," I said. "How bad could it be?"

"Darts," said 16 and nodded his head. "It has a nice ring to
it."

"But it has to be on a night when I'm not working," added Captain
Vegas.

So it was decided. Everyone wanted to be in the team, even Captain
Vegas, although later in the kitchen when I was making everyone a cup
of tea he did voice his reservations.

"I don't understand," he said. "What's the big deal? I'm the real
outsider here and you guys never let me forget it. Can't you see it
from my point of view?"

Once more I was shocked by Captain Vegas's words. "You're different
Captain Vegas," I said. "You always will be. That's why we love
you."